Saturday, July 16, 2011

According to William G Gray's book Inner Traditions of Magic we need to know some symbolic knowledge of the four Archangels if we want to play with some Ritual Magick, so I'm helping out a bit by sharing some of Gray's information and some random extra tidbits.

Fertility figure. Lord of resurrection who triumphs over death by the potency of love.He personifies compassion and feeling, tenderness and strength combined.Typifies our great need of loving and being loved, desire of conviviality, our deepest necessicity for true spiritaul sustenance, without which we might as well not live at all.Concern is with the kinder side of humanity.Represented as mature being connected with our more peaceful pursuits, consolidation of gains, enjoyment of existence.He directs our attention to the moral as distinct from the intellectual side of the mysteries.Presides of the companionship that should prevail in every circle.Pervasive angel, cooling hot-headedness, soothing irritations, generally dissolving most difficulties capable of solution by such means.Tears of gabriel wash away the sorrows of our world, because they are tears of sympathetic and understanding love.Provides confidence to face death in no particularly brave or heroic manner, but quietly and normally as part of our Eternal Existence.Gabriel convinces us that love is immortal, and as products of it, so are we.However many times our flesh bodies die and are dissolved in the ocean of life, our souls will be safe in Gabriel's keeping while they continue along the unseen edge of the cosmic circle to re-emerge into material manifestation again until we are sufficiently developed as individuals to exist otherwise.The cup of Gabriel is also the cauldron of regeneration.

West. Sunset-autumn position.Symbol: Cup or Horn (with all its significance)Element: WaterSephirah: YesodCircuit: 2Visualised with: chestnut hair, amber eyes, a friendly and sympathetic voiceColours: reds, russet-yellows, similar huesGirdle: red (they apparently all have their own special brand of Wrestling belt!)

He first appears in the Book of Daniel, delivering explanations of Daniel's visions. In the Gospel of Luke Gabriel foretold the births of both John the Baptist and of Jesus. Christians of the Catholic traditions refer to him as Gabriel the Archangel.

In Islam, Gabriel was the medium through whom God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, and that he sent a message to most prophets, if not all, revealing their obligations. He is called the chief of the four favoured angels and the spirit of truth. He is called the created Holy Spirit (Islam) that spoke to Muhammad,[1][2] which is not to be confused with the Holy Spirit of God in Christianity who is revered as God Himself. Gabriel is also mentioned in Bahá'í Faith texts, specifically in Bahá'u'lláh's mystical work Seven Valleys.

He is the patron saint of telecommunications, postal workers and diplomats.

In English-speaking culture, the image of Gabriel as the angel that shall blow the trumpet blast that initiates the end of time and the general resurrection at the Last Judgment, which has no source in the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament,[10] is a familiar trope. (It may be taken from Norse Heimdall who according to legends, will sound the Gjallarhorn, alerting the Æsir to the onset of Ragnarök where the world ends and is reborn.) It may also be taken from Mother Shipton's Prophecies "For storms will rage and oceans roar, when Gabriel stands on sea and shore, and as he blows his wondrous horn, old worlds die and new be born."